Improved skate-foot



being very small and portable.

NrTnD STATES PATENT ALBERT H. HOOK AND JOHN H. DARLINGTON, OF NEV YORK,N. Y'.

IMPROVED SKATE-FOOT.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 46,563, ated February28, 1865. Y

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ALBERT H. HOOK and JOHN H. DARLINGTON, of the city,county, and State ot' New York, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement to be used with Skates; and we do hereby declare andascertain our said invention, referring` to the accompanying drawings,which form a part hereof, in which- Figure l represents a perspectiveview of a skate with the invention attached to the, runner thereof; Fig.one of the feet detached.

Our improvement consists in the peculiar devices, which we denominateskate-feet, and their mode of attachmentto the skate-runner, by which weobtain a cheap, portable, and

.convenient shield for the skate-runner that enables the wearer to walkeither on the ice or elsewhere without slipping, or to stand firmly whenresting from skating on the ice. It is readily attached or detached, andthe set necessary for a pair of skates can be carried in the pocket, atall times ready for use, they Many devices for this purpose have beenessayed, such as the old Holland sabot strapped on to the foot, andother similar fixtures have been employed, all requiring straps, band,screws, or pins to hold them on, while our device is a simple block ofelastic rubber so formed as to cling tightly to the .skate-runnerwithout other fastening and be sprung on or oit' at any time by simplycompressing the base between the thumb and fingers.

The construction of our invention and its application is as follows: NVemold or cut ont a block of vulcanized india-rubber, such as is shown ata, Figs. 1 and 2. Two of the sides ot' this block are inclined, forminga broad base, and slanting up toward the top in which is cut adeepgroove, c, shaped like the section of skate runner to which it is to beaffixed, and its upper edges should very nearly meet to produce thenecessary compression to adhere well to the sides of the runner. It'there is. a small channel cut along the center of the sole or tread b,directly under the groove c, it will facilitate the opening ot' theupper lips ot' the groove by the compression of the base between thethumb and lingers.

Itis obvious that while we have shown a plain figure of a given form forthe skate-foot it can be molded into various other configurations withor without ornament7 so that it has the broad base to rest on `with theelasticspring groove to cling to the skate-runner, and thus hold itwithout other fastening.

Two or more ot' these feet can be attached to each skate-runner, as seenin the drawings, which will form a base for walking without slipping onthe ice and a shield to the skaterunner on the ground or elsewhere.

Having thus fully described our improved skate-feet, what we claim asnew, and t'or. which we desire Letters Patent, is-

A skate-foot made of a block of elastic material, so formed as to beattached to and detached from a skate-runner, in the manner and for thepurposes herein set forth.

y ALBERT H. HOOK.

J. HENRY DARLINGTON. Witnesses: A.

J. J. GREENoUG-H, C. A. BROWN.

